


Comfort, Helplessness

by AnnetheCatDetective



Series: sub Cecil [3]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: BDSM, Dom Carlos, Episode Related, M/M, Sub Cecil, The Auction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-04 17:32:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1083737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnetheCatDetective/pseuds/AnnetheCatDetective
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Cecil gets comforted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Helplessness

**Author's Note:**

> I really didn't intend for Checklist to wind up with a whole lot of ep-related chapters... and I couldn't configure the next chapter in line for it to be ep-related anyway. But WOW, 37 left Cecil in such a need of comforting, AND left me more convinced than ever that he is a sub at heart, what with his recalling instances of his own helplessness for comfort and mental fortitude. 
> 
> There will actually be two versions of this, one where Carlos did not buy Cecil and one where he did, since... I have no way of knowing now which is the case, and I really want to explore both. You may all choose for yourselves which is real, until one is proven less true than the other.

Carlos hates himself for picking that day of all days for field work. He should have been in the lab, with the radio on, should have been there to hear, to rush over to the auction himself. 

He'd caught the tail end when he did get back to the lab, caught the concerned looks from a couple colleagues, and had rushed out to the station possibly a little faster than was strictly legal. 

Cecil is standing in the parking lot when Carlos pulls in, staring at the door handle of his own truck, lost. He'd been so relieved to still have a job, even as awful as the new conditions were, to still have the show to go back to, and now this. It didn't feel fair. Carlos wonders why he ever expected it to. Still, there are things he could have foreseen happening to screw up their lives and then there was this. 

"Baby?"

Cecil turns, and in an instant he both lights up and crumples, and then he is in Carlos' arms.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this." He moans softly, folding himself up small into the safe space Carlos provides him. 

"I know. I'm sorry. I-- I'm sorry. If-- I should have been-- I'm sorry."

"Take me home?"

Carlos nods.

On the drive, Cecil is curled up in his seat, leaning towards Carlos, small and silent. 

"Give me your keys, baby." Carlos whispers, pulling into Cecil's parking space. "I'll get you inside and get you taken care of..."

"It wasn't supposed to be like this." Cecil says again, and it's almost a question. 

"I know."

He sniffs and shakes his head. "I don't know who-- I don't know how--"

"Baby, keys. Let's get you in."

"It's not... it's not... I don't even understand how I became seized property in the first place!" Cecil hands over his apartment key, its fob a simple black leather tassel.

"Look, if-- if this isn't just some kind of weird coincidence, then we'll get it all sorted out." Carlos promises. "I mean... you can't legally have been bought and sold."

"It's not okay." Cecil sniffs again and curls in on himself. "Not when it's real, not when I don't even know who owns me. Not... Not this."

"Shh. Nobody owns you, Cecil. It's not possible and we're going to get to the bottom of the whole thing."

Cecil looks back up, stricken, and Carlos reaches over to pet his hair gently. 

"Nobody but me." He clarifies. "And... I mean, that's just because you want me to. Right?"

"R-right." Cecil nods, unsure.

Carlos leaves him a moment, to go around to the passengers' side and get him bundled out onto the pavement, to get him wrapped in Carlos' own jacket, one that had just been languishing in the backseat. 

Inside the apartment, Carlos sets to the task of heating up canned soup. It's Cecil's favorite, and even if it's not quite as good out of a can as it is made from scratch, Carlos doesn't feel like leaving Cecil alone on the couch long enough to make him a real dinner. 

"Cecil, I promise you, it is literally illegal for someone to own you, no matter what happened at the auction." He repeats, kneeling and resting his hands on Cecil's knees, trying to get eye contact from the man. "You are not some stranger's property, you're not anyone's slave. You're my baby. And I am not letting anyone else claim ownership of you. Do you believe me?"

Cecil nods, managing a smile. "You won't, not ever?"

"Not ever." He pulls Cecil in for a kiss. "I'm going to feed you, and then I'm going to tie you up in your own safe bed and make sure nobody else gets their hands on you. How's that sound?"

Another nod, a brighter smile, and Carlos brings him a bowl of soup and a slice of thickly buttered bread. Cecil tears the crusts off and dunks them into the broth, before eating the middle of the bread, and then the soup, curled against Carlos' side the whole time. Carlos is the one to hold the water glass, to tilt it to Cecil's lips when they are both between bites, and the one to keep the tray with their dinners balanced on his own lap, so that Cecil may curl up into whatever shape makes him most comfortable. 

"Bathroom first." Carlos says, in a tone that leaves no room for arguing. "I'm not strapping you in until after, I do not need to learn that lesson the hard way."

"Bathroom first." Cecil nods, with a tired snort. "Carlos?"

"Yes, baby?" Carlos kisses his forehead, and Cecil nuzzles into him. 

"We could work out bathroom breaks sometime if-- if I was going to spend a long time tied up?"

"Of course we could, Cielito. Another time, if you feel like it... another time I'll get everything worked out so you can be comfortable for a longer period of time... Maybe change positions a few times. I'll work it out. Might need to pick out more restraints for a thing like that."

Cecil nods, and disappears into his bathroom. Carlos brings out the cuffs while he waits, and a small mesh bag of neckties. They were the ones Cecil had declared 'unsalvageable', ones that had stains or where the fabric had been ruined by contact with Khoshekh's claws, or where the color had turned out wrong in natural light... Whatever the reason, they were ties Cecil had no intention of wearing as ties, but he'd saved them, in a bag in the back of his closet.

Carlos picks out the softest of them, and when Cecil returns to the bedroom, naked, Carlos is able to get him tied up. When he asks, Cecil claims it's comfortable. The less-soft ties add some length... In the end, he places Cecil at a diagonal, using a necktie to attach the cuffs to a bedpost, softer ones around his ankles, and at the angle they are at, he's not sure what to do with those, but Cecil seems to relax at being bound, even if Carlos only holds the ends of those ties in his hands to keep Cecil's legs spread.

"Who's my baby?" Carlos coos, pitching his voice low and nuzzling at one calf. 

"I am." Cecil sighs. 

"That's right. Who gets to have my baby like this?"

Cecil hesitates a moment. "Just you?"

"Just me." He nods, dropping a kiss to the back of one knee. "You look so good spread out for me... love you with your arms stretched up over your head, love the way it pulls the muscles under your skin, love the way you relax for me... Mm, I'm sorry I didn't bring something to make this easier, how about next time? How about next time I remember to bring something to really get you tied up with?"

"Thank you, Carlos." Cecil nods.

"I love you." Carlos kisses the back of the other knee. It tastes of salt, of a day in the hot desert, of sweat and dust. 

"I love you, Carlos." Cecil swallows, and his throat bobs beautifully, and Carlos spreads Cecil's legs wide and leans down between them for a kiss. 

"I need to use my hands, so when I place you how I want you, I need you to be good for me and hold that position."

Cecil nods again, and when Carlos pushes his knees up to his chest, he ties the ends of those ties together to keep Cecil's ankles from falling too far apart from each other. 

"Do you want to have sex tonight or do you just want to be tied up for a while?" Carlos asks him, voice gentle, hands gentle as they stroke along thighs, along ribs, along everywhere Carlos can lean and stretch and reach to touch. "You have to ask me for it if you want it, baby... I'm not going to assume. And I like hearing you beg, when it's what you really want. If you don't, I'm going to sit up with you and just pet you, all right? Just look out for you for a little bit."

"I want to." Cecil shakes his head. "I want you."

"Okay. We'll stop if you need to." Carlos kisses the arch of an instep and strokes the skin just above one tie. "You tell me if you need to move, or if you want to just go back to this, or if you need anything at all. I'm going to take good care of you."

Cecil nods. Carlos' voice is even, when Cecil gives up on making his own obey. Carlos is cool enough not to panic and warm enough, warm enough to make it all better, with sweet touches and soothing words. Cecil cannot help himself, and Carlos is there to make certain he has what help he needs. Cecil has lost himself, but Carlos will find him. Cecil abandons himself, the last in a long line to do so, but Carlos does not abandon him.

Carlos' fingers are slow and careful, in opening Cecil up, and Carlos wriggles himself through the loop he's made of Cecil's legs, to smile and drop a kiss to his nose and press into him, to slide in deep and pause a moment, to meet Cecil's eyes with his own and let their breathing fall in synch. 

"Mine." He whispers. 

"Yours." Cecil nods. No one else matters. Whoever won him, paid for him, whatever part of him they may own, Carlos' claim goes deeper.


	2. Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carlos comforts Cecil- the other way it could happen.

Carlos hadn't been able to catch Cecil after the auction. The crowd had swept them away from each other, and it was not worth the risk of being shot in the ensuing confusion-- Carlos is still not convinced that bullets will not hurt him-- to try and make it to him just then.

He finally gets to Cecil in the station parking lot after the show, feeling guilty at how much time the poor man had spent wondering about his fate. 

"I got you something." He greets, breathlessly pressing the envelope into Cecil's hands. 

Carlos doesn't think anything has ever been as beautiful as Cecil's face, in the moment of realization. The relief that sweeps over him, the gratitude, the lightness, the joy, the surprise that keeps coming back on him and the sheer, utter love. 

"Oh." Cecil gasps. "Carlos."

"Lot thirty-seven. Cecil Palmer. I don't know what the hell was going on in that auction, but damned if I was letting anyone else buy you."

Cecil kisses him, full and passionate and warm, his arms thrown about Carlos' neck, his whole body an expression of exaltation. 

"I love you." He sighs and slumps into Carlos' chest and shoulder, as all the tension bleeds free. 

"Come on, Cielito... I'd better get you home." Carlos chuckles. "Glad you like it."

"I was worried. I mean... what if someone else bought me?"

"Not on my watch."

"What if Steve Carlsberg bought me?" Cecil shudders. "What if he bought me so I would have to report his ridiculous views?"

"Never." Carlos laughs and kisses Cecil's temple, and gets him into his car. 

In Cecil' apartment, they fix dinner side by side, and eat it the same way. After, Carlos sits on the sofa, and Cecil crawls into his lap, curls up there and shivers until Carlos strokes a warm hand over his arm and his back. 

"I was just worried." Cecil mumbles, curled in with his mouth muffled against his own hand where it clutches a knee. 

"I know... oh, baby, I can't imagine... but it's okay. You're safe now. You're your own man, free and clear, whatever-- whatever's going on with that... that-- Putting you up for bid, that's... That's insane. But it's over, and you're okay."

Cecil pushes himself up with a blush, wrapping his arms around Carlos and pressing a kiss to his cheek. He leaves the sofa, padding to the kitchen to retrieve the envelope from where they'd stuck it to his fridge. During dinner preparations, Cecil hadn't wanted it out of his sight. Now, he brings it back into the room, and kneels next to the sofa, next to Carlos. 

He holds his hands out, palms up, the envelope balanced across them, the neat lettering staring Carlos in the face once more. 

"Carlos? Would you-- would you take care of this for me? So-- so nothing can happen to it?" He asks.

Carlos swallows. This... this is different, bigger somehow. He'd bought it to give to Cecil, after all, he hadn't bought Cecil for himself. He doesn't know what to do with Cecil if his ownership of the man is real and not just some kind of game. But Cecil's eyes are wide and worried, and he looks incredibly fragile, and this time... This time, the possession of Cecil is freely given, as it always had been where Carlos was concerned.

He's just never been Cecil's illegally-legal owner before, and he doesn't know what to think about that, not at all.

"So nothing can happen to it." He agrees. He has a file cabinet at home where Cecil will be safe-- whatever the document is that concerns his ownership, at any rate. There's a drawer that locks, and if it's just for safekeeping, then maybe it's okay, but he feels he should do something. He has Cecil's... Cecil's papers. He owns Cecil, something he cannot wrap his head around, and if Cecil wants him to keep that paperwork, then he really should give Cecil something in return, but he hopes that there are no papers with his own name floating around. "I won't let anything happen to you."

"Thank you." Cecil sighs, and he melts against Carlos' knee once the envelope is out of his hands. 

Carlos strokes at his hair a while, and before long, Cecil is nuzzling at his thigh, is making warm little sounds and worming his way closer. 

"Can I help you with something?" Carlos chuckles. 

"Can I help you?" Cecil blinks up at him, and the weight of it hits Carlos square in the chest. 

"Okay." He nods, because he may not be at all comfortable with the idea of literally owning another human being, but he is comfortable with making sure Cecil is okay, and he knows Cecil's needs are... different, from most people's, and if Cecil needs Carlos to own him-- just for safekeeping!-- then he can be all right with this. Cecil serving him is no different from before, after all, and Cecil will still be his own man in the morning, no matter who has physical possession of the envelope. Carlos is only putting it in a safe spot, is only 'owning' Cecil in the way that Cecil likes. Cecil will still be his own real owner, in all the ways that count, legally. Carlos can deal with this, with the parts that are only make-believe, and with having a drawer that locks, that Cecil can borrow some use of.

He cards his fingers through Cecil's hair and shifts his leg, opens himself up to let Cecil crawl between his knees. Cecil is sweet, and pleading with wide eyes and parted lips, with hands that slide up towards Carlos' fly, slowly until permission is granted him.

It is not an expert blowjob-- Cecil has managed finesse in the past, but this is not it. This is raw desperate need and gratitude, channeled through the wet heat of a willing mouth. 

Cecil is so happy to be Carlos'. It was wonderful to have that envelope presented to him, back in the parking lot. It was wonderful to be told that he needn't have worried, that he needn't have acted. It was wonderful to learn that he was safe from strange machinations, from the whims of some unwished for master, and it was wonderful to hold the proof in his hands that he was not truly chattel, not someone's property.

It is better to be able to hand that back, though. To know Carlos will keep him safe, so that this will not happen again. If he belongs to Carlos, then no one else can take him, and he cannot accidentally lose himself again, however he must have lost himself the first time. Carlos will let him be his own man, but he will not force him to be, not right now, when he needs to be Carlos' instead. Even only for a little while, he needs it so badly.

Carlos praises him in a strangled voice, despite the haste and sloppiness, and Cecil redoubles his efforts, sucks and swallows at the copious amounts of his own saliva that have gathered, that dribble out whenever his lips do not form the perfect seal. He hums, and feels Carlos come apart with it, but Carlos has the power to put himself back together and that is a trick that Cecil never could learn. 

"My sweet baby..." Carlos pulls Cecil up to sit in his lap, wiping gently at his wet, messy mouth, massaging his achy jaw. "Shh, there... you were so good for me."

Carlos wipes at Cecil's eyes, too, which is Cecil's first hint that there had been tears, and he belatedly realizes that is where the hushing comes from. Carlos keeps hushing him between kisses, holding him close, making sure he is all right before slipping a hand between his legs.

"Ready now?" Carlos asks him, smile warm and wicked as he cups the bulge he finds. "Okay if I get you off, baby? Mm, I bet it is, isn't that right? You need me to take care of you?"

"R-ready." Cecil nods, the word catching in his throat, and he swallows at it. 

Carlos lays him out on the sofa, half-undresses him and touches him all over. Carlos' hands are possessive sometimes, but more than that, tonight, they are careful. Carlos pushes him until he shakes and sobs with pleasure, before letting him come, and then Carlos kisses him all over again and tells him how good he's been.

"That's my sweet guy..." Carlos breathes the words into Cecil's hair, gathering him in tight. "You did so well for me. So good. Let's get you cleaned up and cozy."

"I'm cozy." Cecil protests, shivering.

"No, you're cold." Carlos chuckles, tugging him up to his feet and supporting him on the walk to the bathroom. "But I'll take care of that, too. I'll take good care of my baby..."

And before long, they are tangled up together beneath the covers, Carlos whispering little endearments as Cecil drifts off to sleep, and they both feel that promise is being made good on.


End file.
